Moving to Austin

[Citten]

Relocating to Austin Texas within a few weeks. Flying down to check out apartments and do a few things next weekend, then driving down permanently.

I'm currently in upstate NY, 23. Looking for a change of pace, a decent art and music scene, and warm weather during the winter. Austin from what I hear fits the bill.

For anyone familiar with Austin.. Where are the best/safest areas to live, anywhere in particular? Anything to avoid there? Good restaurants / things to know?

Thanks

[Zodiac]

I don't really have anything useful to say, but Austin is pimp. Good luck finding a job, everyone in Texas wants to live there.

[intelnavi]

Austin is wonderful. I miss it everyday. Best place I've ever had the pleasure of living, of course, I've never lived in NY (fuck you Honolulu).

Were you looking for a house or apartment? Northside is pretty upscale but it can differ alot. Lots of good stuff. Downtown of course is downtown, 6th music/street nightlife/capitol building. South of that gets pretty shady in places (hello riverside). Just depends. As you go east and west too it changes drastically. Try north and then northwest, hit downtown, then try west. See what you like. The fun is downtown: clubs, college campus (UT), capital building, tons of music venues and food everywhere. But that can get pretty annoying and traffic is always a bitch on 35 or Mopac/whateveritscalled during rush hour these days with Dell, Samsung, etc. The cool stuff you can find almost anywhere luckily.

The best part about Austin is the music and food. Let's talk restaurants: Chuy's, Magnolia's (best at about 3 am), Kerby Lane, JIMMY (FUCKING) JOHNS, Chura's (<3), and almost any other place you can find. Sooo fucking good. It's one of the best cities to have food after midnight. Excellent. There are a bunch of holes-in-the-wall as well as some good names. Don't miss Alamo Drafthouse. Food and drinks delivered to you during your movie is win. Quentin Tarantino holds film festivals there every once in a while, and the surprise early US premiere of the latest Star Trek was held there too with Nimoy. Definitely worth keeping up with.

Unfortunately, Austin used to be alot weirder. I miss it so. The shrubbery is to be recommended as well.

EDIT: If I had my current job there, I'd be the happiest man alive.

[NMTS]

Austin is awesome, rent prices are extremely low in North Austin. A 1 bedroom over 900+ sqft for $650..

[AladainAF]

Austin is badass. I've lived in Round Rock (just north of Austin) for 15 years now.

For anyone familiar with Austin.. Where are the best/safest areas to live, anywhere in particular? Anything to avoid there? Good restaurants / things to know?

Do NOT live in East Austin (Anywhere east of 35). This includes the east riverside area, manor, etc.

To live in the "hip" and more liberal/happening part of town, all I have to give is a zip code. Live in 78704 and you'll be golden. It's right by Barton Springs, Zilker Park, and many other badass places.

The party street is 6th street. Also go down Guadalupe during the weekend during the day and its pretty cool (campus area).

Best places for food: Go to the Salt Lick BBQ and the County Line BBQ. Kerby Lane is fucking hoss for late food, and the best place in town to get a hamburger is Dan's on Ben White and Manchaca. MUST EAT AT OASIS @ LAKE TRAVIS. While the food there isn't great the view @ sunset is amazing. Also agree with above poster, Magnolia's is great for late night. Another great website for resources for food is this dude here.

Best places for scenery -- drive 360 (Capital of Texas Highway) from Ben White all the way to 183. Also drive FM2222 from MoPac to 360 (if you like twists and turns). Best stationary place would be to climb mount bonell overlooking lake austin.

Do not bother watching a movie anywhere else but the Alamo Drafthouse. Agree with above poster, its the best place period.

If you want, shoot me a PM and I'll give you a tour around the city.

[fat12]

East side isn't bad, and it's pretty cheap. Riverside sucks, but Manor just east of 35 is safe. South Austin is nice and pretty cheap to live at as well. Around like Oltorf in between 35 and Lamar there are lots of nice houses to be rented, and it's away from all the campus humhum.

North of 38th street is cheap, but isn't very pretty out there. There are lots of nice houses west of Lamar all the way to Exposition though. That area is nice and goes as far South as Lake Austin Blvd which is 6th street.

I like all those areas because it's easily accessible by bus and bike. Don't need a car while living in Austin. I can't recommend craigslist enough though for finding a place to live. That's how I've found my places the past 3 years.

[pooch]

I have lived in austin for the past 5 years. I have to say good luck with the arts job. Everyone and i mean everyone wants those jobs and there is alot of competition. as far as restaurants depends on what you want. vespio is the best place bar none in austin on congress for Italian . french cuisine go to aquarelle. BBQ as some one said take the drive out to salt lick. austin is so saturated with so much talent/excellent food it is hard to deal with at times. I went to the local culinary academy 2nd ranked in the nation but 2 more have popped up. so all i am saying is austin is the best city in texas hands down. just be ready to fight for what you want.

[tjac]

Originally Posted by Citten

Relocating to Austin Texas within a few weeks. Flying down to check out apartments and do a few things next weekend, then driving down permanently.

I'm currently in upstate NY...

If you mean Ithaca, or thereabout, the only real differences will be warmer climate and higher population. Don't get me wrong, Austin is pretty great (if you can earn a decent wage and play hard), but moving from a place like Ithaca to Austin is more like a lateral move than an upgrade.

While in Austin, check out the apartments around Spyglass.

[Citten]

Thanks for the input everyone. Very much appreciated.

To answer a few questions:

Looking for a 1 bedroom apartment. Not planning to get a job in the arts, mostly looking for any job to pay rent. The fact that it has a great music and arts scene is a huge draw. Being able to check out Austin Film Society, go to shows, see the occasional camera crew around town will be nice. From what I've researched this kind of stuff happens.

Comparing it to Ithaca I think is a stretch. Rent in Ithaca compared to Austin is similar, with areas of Austin being cheaper. I've seen advertisements like Great Apartment at Great Price!!! and Best Deal on the Far West UT Shuttle which almost seem like a scam, not entirely sure what to think about it -- IE. would they really allow dogs in a nice furnished clean place? Doesn't seem to add up. Perhaps this is in a not great area, I have yet to check into google maps and add up the location ideas you've all given me.

Ithaca is very very small. While the people and environment are great, there's really not so much of a draw besides the finger lakes; which are quite beautiful. Location wise going beyond Ithaca there's nothing but small towns. Further out to Binghamton, Bing has cheap rent but I've lived there for two years and it's just not happenin'. Corning/Elmiria are somewhat cheap but I can't think of any real draws. Come winter and it's frigid.

I've really been mulling it around for like the past three weeks now, negotiating what move would make the most sense; keeping in mind I have no obligations til fall of 2010 -- free man to go wherever.

I'm interviewing at a production company in Boston Tuesday for an internship, the problem is that Boston from what I can tell would be just as expensive as say living in Queens; which has more draw than Boston for me. There's deals everywhere, but the median price of living for cities with competitive environments and things to do seems to favor Austin.

Few more questions:

1) Entry level jobs easy to find? Or is everything simply competition? Tjac mentioned needing a decent wage, not sure what that means in terms of already having fair prices on rent. I hear UT is a significant employer, as well as Dell.

2) Would anyone leave if they could, if offered the same job elsewhere? Everyone seems to have a overwhelmingly positive response towards Austin.

Aladain - I'll probably take you up on that offer, I'll PM you in advance.

[Whyme]

I've lived in NYC, Houston and a few other "big" cities, and I have to say that Austin blows them all away, especially if you're a young twenty-something.

Austin basically breaks down as such:

North/Far North - very popular place to live because most neighborhoods are quiet and the rent fairly cheap. The downsides are that you're a decent car ride away from anything interesting, and if you work in the South you will go nuts fighting traffic to and from work every day.

West/Far West - Super, super quiet and very nice but rent there can be pricey, and can still feel a bit aways from all the cool stuff. On the plus side, Mopac (1) is a much more agreeable highway to drive than I-35.

East - The east side has traditionally been the "ghetto" part of Austin. Depending on where you go in the East, you will find a large black and/or hispanic population. There is something of a financial renaissance happening in the east side right now as developers are buying up cheap land (pushing the minorities even further east) and building modern condos and business parks. The east side is also the favored area of the artsy/hipster folks. It goes without saying that rent here is fairly cheap.

Central - This is basically the area sorrounding UT. The rent in this area is the highest in Austin due to too many students looking for close housing. It is the perfect spot since everything is just a short trip down 35 or mopac, and you can take the bus downtown and back, eliminating the "Whose gonna DD tonight?" problem. By far my favorite part of the city and where I have lived for the past 2 years.

South - Very artsy and flavorful in some parts, ghetto as all heck in others. Like the North, rent is fairly cheap in most areas.

If you're looking for apartments, hit up craigslist - there are like a million new listings a week. You should not have a problem finding a decent apartment.

and the best place in town to get a hamburger is Dan's on Ben White and Manchaca

Dan's is allright, but not the best burger in town. If you want that, hit up The Jackalope on 6th and try their blue-cheese burger (medium of course) and prepare to weep.

Some of my favorite places to eat: Elsi's (El Salvadorean food, try the tuesday special and you will be hooked), East Side Cafe, Chez Nouz (if you're feeling fancy), Arrandas (cheap, dirty, amazingly tasty mexican food Jalisco style), Plucker's (wings!), Salzon, Jackalope, The Best Wurst (bratwurst stand on 6th and neches, by far the best drunk food ever created), etc.

Hope that helps.

[Adam12]

Watch out for the area right off of 35 just south of Pflugerville (Wells Branch area), and anything north of Spicewood Springs on 183 (up through Anderson Mill), they seem to have relocated a ton of Katrina refugees to these places. Shit went pretty ghetto fast.

To answer your two questions in the last post:

1) Entry level jobs: the market, like everywhere else, isn't as hot as it was when I moved here in 2006, but you have Dell, IBM, some AMD affiliate and Apple here, to name a few. I got on at a company straight away, but most people seem to get a foot in via temp agencies. It wouldn't hurt to start there. Protip: if you're in shape, try the Renaissance Hotel in the Arboretum, they're always looking for bellmen and the tips are great during football season (tons of rich bastard UT alums stay there). It's not a bad place to keep on your feet.

2) I'd leave for a 15% bump in salary back home to San Diego, but that's about it. I have few complaints in three years here. This Summer has been fucking brutal, but usually it's quite nice.

[MrGraham]

Austin is awesome, been here almost a year now. It has the good food / decent job market / music scene that you'd have to go to a larger city for, yet the traffic still isn't bad (relatively - disclosure, I moved from DC). There's also like 6-7 colleges in the area which is nice.

I could eat Freebird's burritos every day for the rest of my life.

IT job market is good as long as you're ok with contracting for a while. Not sure on other markets.

If you intend to have a big social life, you pretty much need to live towards south Austin. Round Rock and north Austin are really great as far as food and grocery stores and shit, but there is no live music north of downtown for the most part and very limited bar selection. Round Rock has the added advantage of being near Dell which is where you'll end up working at some point more than likely if you're IT.

Pflugerville (NE Austin) is probably the best "bang for your buck" for rent.

We need to do an FOH Austin get together at some point, there's a bunch of us here.

[intelnavi]

Originally Posted by MrGraham

I could eat Freebird's burritos every day for the rest of my life.

QFMFT.

[James]

Am I the only one that just likes to visit Austin? I could never stand to live there. Bunch of doped up hippie motherfuckers on the highway SLOWIN ME DOWN. They'd be fucking crushed in Houston, and that's why I like Houston. Shit is real in H-Town, son.

But visiting Austin is just fine and dandy. I caught Snakes on a Plane at the Alamo Drafthouse up there and it was fucking glorious, they even served Sam Jackson's Badass Ale to boot.

[BoldW]

Austin's cool. Unemployment here is pretty low compared to the rest of the nation. I used to live up north off parmer when I worked for Dell, now I live way friggin south off slaughter - still only takes me 10-15min to get downtown though so I'm happy unless I need to get anywhere else, then I'm driving for 40 min.

If you're the artsy type or want to be going out every night (who mentioned Jackalope? 2 for 1 burgers tomorrow) look for something downtown or close by it. communting can be a pain depending, mopac and 35 both get pretty crammed during rush hour.

Previous poster was right - I wouldnt look for anything up north or in RR unless you're a techie and going to be working up there. Same goes for anything West - get towards four points or anythign on 620 and it's just too far.

Try to stay north of riverside, south of 51st, west of airport and don't go too far west past mopac..as you move towards 620 you're asking for hour plus drives to get anywhere. If you can get something in hyde park or manor area you'd be styling...oh, and I was just trying to give a general area...don't go to 51st and airport lol. Umm, there are actually a lot of cheap but nice apartment complexes around farwest/spicewood springs just west of mopac you might want to look into. I have a lot of friends who work up north but live there so they're kind of halfway between central and RR, so if you're not sure what you want that might also be a decent compromise...not too far to hit mopac, 183, and 360. Those places are comparable in prices to up north...basically a step up from scary places like east riverside (I think thats where the majority of shootings occur in Austin)...though those apartments right off 35 there are pretty safe. In summation though, for being around the arts, get as close to downtown as you can, or west campus if you want college hotties.

I was never a big fan of Freebirds, and gave up on Pluckers once they started charging extra for the ranch (I think they stopped charging but that still pisses me off). I'm usually easting on Congress these days when I go out, though once in a while if I'm up north hit Masala Wok for some fast indian.